March 1st – Substance Use
March 8th – Sexual Violence and It’s Impact
March 15th – Dealing with Feelings
March 22nd – Asking for Help
March 29th – Anger
April 5th – Relationships
April 12th – Sex and Sexuality

Open group means that you don’t have to register to be a part of the group. You choose to come to dates when you are available or the topic speaks to you. We ask that you arrive on time as group begins at 3pm and we don’t allow late arrivals.

Sarah Beatty is one impressive lady—she’s a musician and an environmental scientist! Sarah is a Hamilton- based artist who grew up with two hometowns and many addresses on both sides of the border. In 2011, she recorded the first tracks of what would become her debut solo album, Black Gramophone, released in May of 2012.

In just a few short months, the live-off-the floor recording garnered support from local and international press and radio, national audiences, and generated an invite to audition for the Mariposa Folk Festival and a Roots Recording of the Year nomination from the Hamilton Music Awards in 2012. On top of her many musical accomplishments, she is expecting to get her Ph.D. later this year.

Young women are rarely encouraged to pick up a guitar. How did you first start playing one? Who were the earliest women singers/songwriters to inspire you?

Internal and external barriers are huge factors that affect when a woman will pick up an instrument and/or use their voice to express themselves and their views. I don’t know what all the drivers are, but I really like seeing more and more young women writing songs and making music – women hold court in really important cultural ways. Continue reading

For more information, please contact Sandra – 905.525.4573 or sandra@sacha.ca.

Members of the IWC Committee include:
The AIDS Network
City of Hamilton Status of Women Committee
Good Shepherd
Hamilton Community Legal Clinic
Neighbour to Neighbour Centre
Revolutionary Women’s Brigade
SACHA
Woman Abuse Working Group
YWCA Hamilton

Last year, the Workers Arts & Heritage Centre held a sing-a-long and concert in our backyard and main gallery featuring the Syracuse punk-folk band, The Malvinas. I have this awesome band to thank for introducing me to the glorious music of their namesake, Malvina Reynolds.

Who is Malvina?

Malvina Reynolds was born Malvina Milder in the year 1900 in San Francisco. She began singing and writing songs later in life, after acquiring a degree in music theory and meeting folk musicians (among them Pete Seeger and Earl Robinson) when she was in her late 40s. She went on to write several popular songs, including “Little Boxes,” recorded by Pete Seeger and others, “What Have They Done to the Rain,” recorded by The Searchers and Joan Baez (about nuclear fallout), “It Isn’t Nice” (a civil rights anthem), and many others. Malvina the magnificent also appeared a number of times on Sesame Street (as a character named Kate) and was a songwriter for the series in the 1970s.Continue reading

A debate about ethical cross examination in sexual assault cases is escalating in Canada’s legal circles, and on social media, as the trial against Jian Ghomeshi unfolds. In a commentary published in the Star, criminal lawyer, Breese Davies attempts to de-bunk what she calls a ‘pernicious myth’, that “as a matter of strategy, (the defence will) bully, abuse or attack complainants during cross-examination.”

The woefully named ‘whacking’ is a colloquial term used to describe what Davies maintains is a problem that rarely arises in the courtroom.

But many, following one of the most high profile trials in recent Canadian history, tweet by tweet, and through more traditional news media, will disagree with her.

“I’m absolutely demoralized.” says Lenore Lukasik-Foss, Chair of the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres. Statistics are so low, when it comes to sexual assault victims reporting to police (even fewer see an actual courtroom) that it’s a rarity Lukasik-Foss and her colleagues have to shepherd a victim through public legal appearances. Watching the Ghomeshi trial unfold, she says, it’s not hard to understand why so few victims come forward.Continue reading